44- The Human Factor.
It was night, but there was still activity inside a secret facility, the former Team Flare HQ, on Kalos. There was lots of people working inside of it, but they were Team Alien's personal, which meant they probably took control of the facility after Team Flare's fall. One engineer connected two cables, and once it was done, he signaled to a scientist, who pressed some buttons. That caused lots of electricity to flow inside a metallic body, alongside another cable which added energon, while a Tyrantrum stood next to it. That caused the body to start moving, but suddenly the terminal started to make an alarm sound as the body accumulated so much electricity. The prehistoric pokémon started to get nervous as the alarms sounded, and tried to shut everything down biting the cables with its jaws. It worked, but the systems also overloaded, causing the terminals to leak smoke. When the smoke cleared, everyone looked at the metallic body, which was actually Breakdown rebuilt, or more likely a female version of him. Suddenly, the robot's eyes turned on and looked at everyone. Tyrantrum growled at the robot mistrustful, but when the robot started to pet its head, the pokémon settled down. By observing that, everyone recognized who it was.
"Welcome back, my lady." The officer in charge saluted.
"What have you done?" The She/Breakdown asked as she looked herself, but she did speak with a familiar voice.
"What we needed to, in order to save you, Misbelwy."
"I'm…one of them." She/Breakdown said, revealing to be now Misbelwy.
"The logical evolution of Team Alien's experiments in biotech: your brain, fused with the donor's nervous and skeletal systems."
Now Misbelwy's body was inside of the female version of Breakdown, with cables connected from her head to parts of the former Decepticon. "The perfect meld of human and machine. Exquisite. Thank you all for your dedication and a loyal life of service." Misbelwy said as she set free from her new body's restrictions. "But unfortunately, Team Alien has proven to not be truly prepared to achieve its goals, and so all its assets, resources and personal must cease to exist. And with everything that happened, I now seem more suited to keep the exclusive company…" She revealed pulling out not one, but two cannons, one on each shoulder and aiming them at her own forces. "…of technological beings. Tyrantrum, hunt time."
The only things heard from the outside were the T-Rex pokémon roars and gunshots. Time later, both Misbelwy and Tyrantrum were approaching an isolated building hidden inside a bunker in the rocks. While Tyrantrum waited right behind her, Misbelwy stopped in front of the gates in vehicle mode. A guard came to see the driver, and saw Misbelwy on the driver's seat when the window lowered.
"Princess Alexia Darkwong." She simply said, right before Tyrantrum charged.
Meanwhile, inside the Autobot base, while it was raining outside, Ratchet was making another scan on one of his patients.
"Well?" Dawn asked impatiently.
"According with the results of the full run of the analysis, here is my diagnostic: congratulations Wheeljack, your systems are totally recovered." Ratchet announced.
"Yujuuu! I'm glad you're fine at last, Jackie."
"You've said it, Dawn. Ha, you can start fear now Cons, the Wrecker is back!" Wheeljack celebrated in joy.
But they also heard a groan right next to him: giving the fact that Warpath was not all recovered like Wheeljack, he was depressed and mad.
"Sorry for you, buddy." Wheeljack told him.
"Warpath, you really mustn't allow yourself to decline." Ratchet said.
"He's right, you have to see the right thing of all this. If Wheeljack is now completely fine, you will be in no time." May encouraged.
"What's the use?" He answered still mad, sitting on the medical berth.
"You need to regain your strength." Ratchet continued. "The time will come…"
"When what? When all of you will need an assist? Isn't that what the new guy is for?"
"Hey Warpath, I've been thinking. With your injure and all, you might want to take advantage of the armor I snagged from Starscream." Smokescreen suggested as he offered him the Apex Armor. "Instant muscle suit!"
"You think I need a crutch?! Where I'm supposed to fire in order to KABLAM?!" Warpath asked furious before he hit the armor with his hammer, making it to smash and break one of Ratchet's terminals.
"Warpath, I needed that!" Ratchet scolded as always, making the children and pokémon laugh.
"It's been a while since the last time we heard you say that." Ritchie said.
"That's truly funny." Iris admitted joining the laugh.
"You have no idea." Max added, which Ratchet only groaned.
"Out of my way, rookie." Warpath said as he shoved Smokescreen and walked away.
"He can walk!" Smokescreen said in disbelief as he saw Warpath pick up the lob ball and doing some exercises with it. "Looks like he's fit for duty to me."
"You don't even know what you're talking about." Ratchet mumbled before he went to repair the damage.
Smokescreen looked at May, who gave him a thumbs-up.
"Take it easy, kid. He will settle down sooner than you expect." Wheeljack reassured Smokescreen.
"Hey, it is me or they are missing two of us?" Iris noticed.
"Yes, where is Clemont? I haven't seen him in all day." May said.
"I also don't know where's Bonnie." Max added.
"Ash and Serena are talking with them right now." Tracey answered pointing to where they were, speaking to Ash's phone.
"This has to be some kind of misunderstanding, right?" Serena asked.
"It must be. But you, Clemont, of all of us, grounded?" Ash added in disbelief.
"I'm afraid so. Looks like I disregarded some of my gym duties and the lab's maintenance. And I'm being unable to give Clembot a break." Clemont explained from their room of their home on Lumiose City. "Not to mention Bonnie also missed to remind it to me and give me a hand with that."
"Yeah, we probably spent too much time at base." Bonnie added.
"Dedenne." Dedenne nodded.
"Bonnie, Clemont, I hope you're not on the phone in there!" A man's voice said.
"No daddy!" Bonnie answered before she and her brother returned to the phone. "Say hi to Moon for me."
"Until I manage to balance my duties here, we're off Team Prime." Clemont said before hanging up.
Back to base, everyone looked to Ash and Serena.
"They are going to be at home for a while." Serena summarized.
"That's a shame. With Clemont here, this place was a little livelier." May lamented.
"Just when we get two back, we lose other two." Misty lamented sad.
Meanwhile, in the Nemesis, the screen showed something that caught Soundblaster and Knock Out's interest, especially the last one.
"Strange. Lord Galvatron, it appears that Breakdown's signal has popped back online, albeit corrupted." Knock Out reported.
"Investigate with caution. It may well be an Autobot trick."
"I certainly hope not. Breakdown may act the brute, but he's a maestro behind a rotary buffer."
A ground bridge took Knock Out and a squadron of Vehicons to the same military bunker, but now it was in ruins. Knock Out spotted a big hole made on the main structure, and heard footsteps coming from inside before seeing the figure of his old partner getting out.
"Breakdown, where have you…?" Knock Out started, but then realized something wasn't right with the blue Decepticon. "Breakdown, what happened to you? Why do you look like…a femme?"
"Therein lies a tape, which won't be nearly as interesting to Galvatron as this." Misbelwy answered as he showed Tyrantrum carrying on its jaws a huge case to Knock Out. "So, take me to my masterpiece."
At the same time, the Autobots were being informed by the recent event by their allies: the two pokémon rangers Solana and Lunick.
"At 16:30 hours, a satellite was stolen from a high security military vault. Surveillance showed the Decepticon known as Breakdown at the scene." Ranger Lunick reported as the screen showed the image.
"Haven't seen him in a while." Wheeljack expressed.
"It looks like Breakdown entered the bunker in vehicle mode, with someone behind the wheel."
"A Decepticon paired with a human?" Ratchet asked in disbelief.
"And I have a pretty good idea of who." Ranger Solana continued. "The stolen satellite was Project Ultimax."
"Invented by Misbelwy." Elita concluded.
"I guess the former military princess wanted it back."
"Whoa, Misbelwy was a princess?" Ritchie asked in disbelief.
"Maybe that was her alibi to hide Team Alien's activities." Tracey deduced.
"And the reason why she possessed lot of military resources." Serena remembered.
"But wait, it isn't supposed that Misbewy's last act was right before Nemesis Prime squashed her?" Sideswipe reminded.
"Yeah, I thought Misbelwy was paste." Moonracer reminded.
"So than I."
"Ranger Solana, even if she were alive, are you suggesting that Misbelwy has allied Team Alien with the Decepticons? I highly doubt that Galvatron would entertain such an idea, knowing that he might remember that she once tried to exercise control over his forces and himself." Ratchet expressed in disbelief.
"That's true. But maybe she has realized that is our alliance which continue ruining her plans and now she wants to try something similar to achieve the same advantage." Ash deduced.
"He has a point there." Hot Rod supported.
At the same time, on the Nemesis…
"Knock Out, what is this abomination, and why have you brought it here?" Galvatron demanded.
"I'm surprised that you seem to not remember me, Galvatron, giving the fact that thanks to me you managed to return from the grave, better in every fact." Misbelwy pointed.
Galvatron witnessed his eyes as he understood who stood before him, and hating to admit that what she said was true. "You…you are that human who tried to experiment with us. The leader of the Team Alien human faction: Misbelwy."
"Oh, so you still remember me, I'm flattered. And as you now can see, I'm being forced to see things from your point of view. But I must admit it is a fascinating experience." She said petting her Tyrantrum, also present on the Nemesis. "I come with a proposition."
"This is the she-human who dissected Breakdown." Knock Out recognized mad as he changed one of his hands for a buzz saw. "Please, my liege, allow me to return the favor."
"I propose that you not overlook the one asset that provides Optimus Prime an advantage. At least on this world."
"And that would be?" Galvatron asked.
"The human factor."
"Look around you, Misbelwy. I command an army from a mighty warship. What could a human possibly offer?"
"You would do well to remember that I'm not ordinary human, and this is no ordinary weapon." Misbelwy said pointing to the case she brought.
Back to base, the pokémon rangers were showing an image of the satellite…
"Ultimax is the prototype of a confiscated new kind of superweapon: some kind of energy cannon which energy source is from unknown origin, but it is said that it is so powerful that it can slice a skyscraper like a katana slices a small tree trunk, or leave some huge crater-like burns in any ground, all from a satellite in orbit." Lunick described.
"It's the work of an extremist, and in Galvatron's hands…" Solana started.
At the same time, on the Nemesis…
"…a threat to anyone, anywhere on the planet." Galvatron ended.
"With pinpoint accuracy at a flick of a switch." Misbelwy added.
"And what is it that you wish in return?"
"Merely a place at the table."
At base…
"The Cons may have the satellite, but they can't use it without the interface code. The only existing copy is stored on the secure server at Sinnoh's military headquarters near Valley Windworks." Lunick informed.
"We must keep the code out of Decepticon hands at all cost." Optimus ordered.
"Time to blow things up." Warpath said cheerful smashing his fists together.
"Dat, dat, dat, I have not yet cleared you for active duty. Nor are you ready to roll." Ratchet reminded Warpath, making him groan in frustration.
"Don't worry, pal. I'll scrap some Cons for you." Wheeljack said trying to cheer him up."
Speaking about the place where the code was, it was starting a complete evacuation.
"Attention, all personal are ordered to evacuate immediately! We have a level 5 radiation leak. Repeat, evacuate immediately!" An officer voice said, but it was Soundblaster, who reproduced a recording.
Once the base was clear, Soundblaster got inside the command center. He plugged one of his tentacles into a computer keyboard and started to download the code. Moments later, the Autobots appeared by ground bridge, but they were forced to cover since the Decepticons already took defensive positions and fired at them.
"The Decepticons have preceded us." Optimus observed as he activated his cannon and battle mask.
"We must secure the command center." Elita declared.
The Autobots charged as they fired their weapons. Galvatron and Misbelwy watched them from a monitor from the Nemesis.
"The Autobots have arrived."
"Galvatron, relax." Misbelwy told him, only to receive a mad look from Galvatron. "Oh right, lord Galvatron, that's how you like to be called. Soundblaster may need to download the code in order to remotely operate Ultimax from here, on your warship. But while jacked into the mainframe, Ultimax is his to command."
Misbelwy pressed a button, which made the Nemesis to eject the device into the space. It deployed, took position and started to charge the weapon.
"Soundblaster, prepare the beta test." Galvatron told to him.
Immediately, Soundblaster inserted the other tentacle in other terminal, activating the targeting system, and zoomed it until it had a clear view of the area outside. The Autobots continued their approach when Smokescreen changed to vehicle form and ran over one Con before return back to robot form and shot down other two. One Decepticon tank tackled him, he managed to stand over him and punched him. In that moment, the weapon fired at him, but he saw it coming, as well as Hot Rod, who pulled him out of the way in the last moment and the beam ended hitting the Con.
"Whoa." Smokescreen said when he saw the Con disintegrated.
"The pokémon rangers didn't exaggerate about it." Hot Rod observed shocked.
That was saw from the Nemesis too.
"Just as I expected it will perform." Misbelwy said.
"Promising." Galvatron admired.
The weapon fired again at the Autobots.
"Fall back." Optimus instructed.
Even as they did it, the beam followed them.
"Ratchet, we require backup!" Elita called to base.
"I'm there." Warpath nodded as he was about to go.
"Dat, dat, dat!" Ratchet stopped him.
"Can you remotely disable Project Ultimax under the pokémon rangers' advisement?" Elita asked.
"On a human based computer network? Without my backup? Without Clemont?"
"We'll take care of that." Ash offered.
Clemont and Bonnie were in their room, he continued with his duties while she played with Dedenne, until they heard a ground bridge appear in middle of the room and Serena, Ash, Max, May and Ranger Lunick came through it.
"Hi guys, glad to see you." Bonnie saluted them.
"But what are you doing here?" Clemont asked confused.
"We have an emergency, Clemont." Ash started.
"And you are the only one who can help us here." Serena followed.
"Son, your planet needs you." Ranger Lunick as he handed him the file of Ultimax.
Meanwhile…
"Autobots, we must draw its fire to distract from Clemont's efforts." Optimus ordered.
The superweapon fired again.
"Somehow, I don't think that'll be a problem." Arcee said.
The Autobots changed to vehicle form to force the beam to follow them harder. Meanwhile, at base…
"Ratchet, you gotta send me in." Warpath begged.
"So you can be an even easier target?! You have yet to regain your full range of motion."
"But Breakdown's back, and after a long while. Come on, even Clemont and Bonnie are in on the action, and they are supposed to be grounded."
"Huh, Ratchet, I may have an idea that may work." Tracey suggested before he whispered something to him.
Ratchet thought about it. "Very well, Warpath. You are cleared for duty."
"Yes!"
"A duty of our choosing." Ratchet corrected surprisingly, making Warpath scratch his head in confusion.
"Fear nothing, you're going to be in the field for sure." Misty reassured.
Back in his home, Clemont was working on his laptop to stop the weapon.
"I'm in, but I can't reach the targeting systems. Too many firewalls."
"Come on Clemont, if there is someone who can stop this evil Team Alien legacy from falling into Cons' hands is you." May encouraged.
"She's right. If the Cons make off with that interface code, Ultimax will not leave anyone sleep safe anymore." Lunick added.
"Let them have the code, it won't do them any good without the satellite."
"I can't say I follow, big brother."
"All satellites have maneuvering thrusters so they can adjust their orbits." Clemont explained as he looked the file. "If I can break into the navigational sub routine, I can bring the whole satellite down!"
"And making all their effort to get the code useless." Ash understood.
"Great idea." Max supported.
"So, which way is the bathroom?" Ranger Lunick surprisingly asked.
Everyone looked at him in disbelief, except Clemont and Bonnie, who looked alarmed.
"What?! No, if our dad sees you…" Clemont started.
"Relax. I'm trained in many stealth ways." Lunick reassured.
"I don't care if you were trained by ninjas! Our dad is a superhero, so you will wish not to upset him!" Bonnie explained.
Unfortunately, that was detected by the Decepticons as they spotted a message telling system breach.
"An intruder in the system? Soundblaster, we have a breach." Galvatron reported.
Soundblaster followed the trail of the breach and followed it until it pinpointed its location.
"The Prism Tower, Lumiose City." Misbelwy recognized. "If the hacker comes from a very important place, it could only be the Autobots human allies."
"Then perhaps you should attend to the matter." Galvatron suggested.
"Surely one of your foot soldiers is more suitable."
"Now!"
Ultimax continued trying to eliminate the Autobots.
"Clear shot! I'm going in!" Moonracer announced seeing her chance, so she speeded up.
"Moonracer, wait!" Smokescreen called as he saw the beam coming right at her, so he stopped her before it impacted. "Scratch that."
"Thanks, Smokey."
Moments later, Misbelwy was now on Lumiose City in vehicle mode, driving around the streets, until she stopped in front of the Prism Tower. She pulled out the turret of top of her and aimed at the tower.
"There you are. Good night, hacker."
Misbelwy had Clemont and Bonnie' room at her sight and started to charge her weapon. But suddenly, Warpath came in vehicle mode and rammed her.
"Good call on curbside duty, Ratch." Warpath complemented.
Warpath dragged Misbelwy until they entered in a deserted plaza, out of any civilian view. There, they changed to robot form in front of each other.
"I have been waiting to fight with someone like you for a while, Breakdown. Where have you…?" Warpath said, until he took a close look to his rival. "Who are you? Some kind of secret sister of Breakdown?"
"Be patient, I'm about to send you with him."
"There is no way you're Breakdown, you are a girl."
"But you are Warpath, and this is the last time you'll interfere with one of my operations."
Warpath eyes looked in shock. "Misbelwy?"
"In the flesh, in a manner of speaking." Misbelwy answered before she pulled out a hammer similar to Breakdown's and charged.
Warpath did the same with his own hammer and both clashed their weapons, until Misbelwy pushed him back. She tried to smash him again, but Warpath dodged and punched her on the face. He tried to hit her again with his hammer, but Misbelwy pushed him against the wall. It was obvious that Warpath wasn't recovered all for combat yet. Seeing that she had the upper hand, Misbelwy challenged Warpath to charged again, which he did. Of course, that caused that he didn't report to Ratchet.
"Warpath, do you read? Warpath?!"
Back at the command center, Soundblaster continued downloading the code and targeting the Autobots as the Decepticons continued defending the base. Optimus and Elita managed to shot down two of them, but they were forced to retreat when the weapon fired again.
"Optimus, I fear that Warpath requires immediate backup." Ratchet told him.
Meanwhile, at Bonnie and Clemont's room…
"Arg, where did they hide the substring?" Clemont said.
In that moment, Bonnie returned after taking Ranger Lunick to the bathroom. "We're back."
"So, any problem?" Max asked.
"Nope. But you're low on toilet paper." Lunick pointed.
Back with Warpath, Misbelwy already anticipated his movements.
"Reaction time is slow." Misbelwy observed dodging the attacks. "You're favoring your right side, legs are weak."
When Warpath tried to strike again, Misbelwy blocked him and hit him hard, sending him backwards.
"I'll show you weak." Warpath said getting up and charging again.
Misbelwy waited for when her opponent attacked and hit him on the back with the hammer. That caused Warpath to collapse.
"You should have stayed in bed, Autobot."
Misbelwy was about to give him the final blow when suddenly she heard a transformation sound and being kicked by Smokescreen. Warpath got surprised at seeing him.
"Assist, what the new guy is for." He said offering his hand.
Warpath grabbed it and allowed Smokey to help him up, but Misbelwy was already with them, ready for another round.
"One rookie to another…" She started as she cracked her head and pulled out her hammer again. "This is your final day on the job."
And charged at them again. Meanwhile, Soundblaster saw the process to try to destroy the satellite and pressed a button to send it to Galvatron.
"They're attempting to disable the satellite. Misbelwy, how difficult is it to squash a little human child?" Galvatron called, but no one responded. "Misbelwy!"
Unfortunately, Soundblaster managed to download the entire code.
"We have the codes? Then target the intruder and destroy him." Galvatron ordered.
Soundblaster stopped firing at the Autobots, thing that they noticed.
"This is our opportunity. Autobots, storm the command center." Optimus ordered.
Soundblaster even made the device to change position. At the same time…
"Almost there." Clemont reported.
Immediately, they saw that the weapon was not aiming for the base's outside anymore.
"Clemont, you did it. It's moving!" May congratulated.
"Ah, that isn't me." He confessed nervous.
The Autobots continued advancing to the command center, eliminating the remaining Decepticons guarding the outside. At the same time, the group saw when the device reached and zoomed a very familiar place.
"Uh, guys, that's Lumiose City." Serena recognized.
"We can see the entire city." Max said excited.
Then the screen stopped in one of the buildings. "And we can see our house. Right in their target sights!" Clemont identified.
"Which means they are going to fire right at us." Ash interpreted alarmed.
"Any time, son." Ranger Lunick said after he looked above them.
"Full thruster burn!" Clemont yelled pressing the keyboard.
That caused that the satellite flew out of its orbit, falling to Earth. The beam did not hit any of Lumiose City's structures, instead it hit a very recognizable balloon which was flying somewhere the beam reached, causing a very recognizable trio to blast off again.
"We don't know why, BUT WE'RE BLASTING OFF AGAIN!"
Galvatron saw on the terminal that the weapon was no more, and roared in anger. Clemont sighed in relief while his friends cheered for him.
"Big brother, you did it!" Bonnie shouted.
"Clemont, you're a genius!" Lunick congratulated as Serena and Ash hug each other and Pikachu, Minun and Dedenne started jumping together.
"I know you would make it." May said hugging Clemont, right before giving him a kiss on the cheek, which left him like paralyzed and completely red.
Max witnessed it and put a disgusted face. "Sister, please, I'm still too young to see you do that in my presence."
But then, someone called from outside the room.
"Clemont, Bonnie, I'm hearing a lot noise coming from your room!"
"Oh no, it's dad." Bonnie recognized alarmed.
"Quick, I have an idea." Ash immediately said.
And their father opened the door.
"What's going on in here?"
"Sorry for disturbing you, dad. Clemont and I were just doing our chores when…"
"When suddenly some of our friends came to give us a hand." Clemont invented as he saw the others acting like if they were helping them.
"Yeah, we figured out that way they would end sooner and be able to pass time with us." Ash added.
"Oh, hi guys. Sounds nice coming from you. Good to see you again."
"Hi mister. So, you are Clemont's father, right?" May saluted, but the others didn't know why she asked that.
Back with Team Prime, they disposed of the last Con inside the complex and reached the command center, but Soundblaster already took flight and left. At the same time, both Warpath and Smokescreen were hitting Misbelwy with everything they got, one after the other, until Smokescreen kicked her backwards.
"Misbelwy, return to base immediately." Galvatron ordered through com-link.
Misbelwy pulled out the shoulders' turrets and fired two missiles, which Warpath destroyed with a shot from his chest cannon. When the smoke of the explosion cleared, they saw Misbelwy disappearing into a ground bridge, right before seeing the explosion of the satellite from the orbit.
"Looks like someone's big plan just burned up in reentry." Warpath said before he and Smokey high-fived.
"And for the record, I read about the great act you performed in the Ark's protection during the fall of Cybertron."
"There's hope for you yet, newbie. For one former rookie to a new one, I will make sure you roll out to the right way." Warpath said, finally accepting Smokescreen into the team.
After the incident, Misbelwy met with Galvatron at the Nemesis' bridge.
"Misbelwy, you have earned your place at the table."
"I'm glad to hear that, Galvatron."
"Knock Out's dissection table." Galvatron revealed, making Misbelwy's face turned worried as she looked at Knock Out, who managed to hold her Tyrantrum with the help of two leapers.
"Breakdown would be tickled." The Decepticon medic said glad.
"No, Galvatron. Why?" Misbelwy asked.
"Because Ultimax was the best you had to offer, and it is no more. Besides, do you really think I would have forgotten the damage your faction caused to the Decepticons?! You didn't have any intention to bring us back from the dead, only use our bodies for your personal ambitions, and that's nothing to be thankful. The human factor did indeed tie the scales, in favor of my enemies." Galvatron explained as Soundblaster showed an image of the gang on his screen.
Misbelwy had no time for react, because Knock Out used his staff to paralyze her and make her collapse to the ground.
"She will be a fascinating case for study." Galvatron said.
"I will leave no fiber or fiber optic unexamined." Knock Out reassured as he touched one of Misbelwy's eyes before two Decepticon engineers dragged her with Knock Out.
"And what about her creature?" Dreadwing asked.
"It cannot make any good for us. Ensure it would not remember anything about its time under her command… and us." Galvatron ordered as the leapers took Misbelwy's pokémon to another way.
"No. Galvatron, think it better. You're making a huge mistake. We don't have to be enemies. No, no, NOOOOO!" Misbelwy pleaded as she was dragged to Knock Out's domains.
Galvatron smirked at one significant detail: this was the end of Team Alien.